RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of North Carolina >> Avery County >> Elk Park >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Elk Park, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Elk Park and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Elk Park:
    • 36.158221, -81.980751
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Elk Park
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Avery County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Avery County
    • Since Elk Park is near Carter County and also Johnson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Carter County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Johnson County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Elk Park

Communities Also Named Elk Park ...

We found four communities that are also named Elk Park.

There is one other community in North Carolina that is also named Elk Park.

Beyond North Carolina, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In North Carolina ...
    • Mitchell County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Elk Park [Mitchell County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • San Juan County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Elk Park [San Juan County].
    • Montana
      • Jefferson County
      • This Elk Park is located in Jefferson County and lies 1,710 miles [2,752 km]<2> to the northwest of the Elk Park that is located in Avery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Elk Park.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Fayette County
      • This Elk Park is located in Fayette County and lies 284 miles [457.1 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Elk Park that is located in Avery County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Elk Park.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Elk Park ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Battleground
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Battleground is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Battleground
  • Beech Bottom
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Beech Bottom is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beech Bottom
  • Bitter End
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Bitter End is located in Carter County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bitter End
  • Carpenter Bottom
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Carpenter Bottom is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Carpenter Bottom
  • Chestnut Dale
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Chestnut Dale is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chestnut Dale
  • Cranberry
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Cranberry is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranberry
  • Cranberry Gap
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Cranberry Gap is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cranberry Gap
  • Dark Ridge ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Dark Ridge is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dark Ridge
  • Elk Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Elk Valley is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Valley
  • Evergreen
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Evergreen is located in Carter County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Evergreen
  • Farmer Mill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Farmer Mill is located in Carter County (TN)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Farmer Mill
  • Flat Springs
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Flat Springs is located in Avery County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flat Springs
  • Continue List   (10 more) ...
    • Frank
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Frank is located in Avery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frank
    • Heaton
      (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
      • Heaton is located in Avery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heaton
    • Heaton Creek
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Heaton Creek is located in Carter County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heaton Creek
    • Hughes
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Hughes is located in Avery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hughes
    • Newland
      (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Roaring Creek
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
      • Roaring Creek is located in Avery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roaring Creek
    • Shell Creek
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
      • Shell Creek is located in Carter County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shell Creek
      • Estimated population in 2014: 21,037 people
    • Sugar Hollow
      (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
      • Sugar Hollow is located in Carter County (TN)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Hollow
    • Sugar Mountain
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the east)
      • Sugar Mountain is located in Avery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sugar Mountain
      • Population from the 2020 Census: 197 people
    • Valley
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Valley is located in Avery County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valley

How Far From Elk Park to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a town such as Elk Park to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Elk Park and extending to:

  • Newland, which is the Seat of Avery County, lies just to the South Southeast.
  • Raleigh, which is the State Capital of North Carolina, lies 188 miles [302.6 km]<2> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Elk Park to Raleigh, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 330 miles [531.1 km] to the northeast (NE). Driving would take five to six hours, a buggy would take 13 days and walking would take 19 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,227 miles [10,021.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,933 miles [11,157.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,810 miles [7,740.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Elk Park could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Elk Park) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<5>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Elk Park to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Elk Park. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 36.1582, Longitude: -81.9808       In this case, the coordinates for Elk Park have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 310.889 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 306.453 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 307.683 degrees.